Back at the motel, Laurelin was seated on the edge of the bed. Her gaze was down at the floor, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She couldn't help but think back to the night before, as well as worry about the mission that Optimus had been sent on. It was only the sound of a helicopter nearing before touching down that pulled Laurelin out of her thoughts. Before she had time to think twice about the noise, however : She heard a ring at the door. Opening it slowly, she was pleasantly surprised to see Ricci there to greet her. Laurelin then saw who was behind Ricci.
It was the Autobot motorbikes sisters. All three of them.
Wanting to simply ignore them, Elita One in particular : Laurelin stepped aside and let Ricci in.
Almost immediately, Ricci picked up on what had happened the night prior given the state that the bedroom had been left in. « Well, well… Looks like someone had an eventful night. » She teased. « Dare I ask how good it was ? »
« Everything was fine. » Laurelin said shortly, rushing to get her things gathered up and packed so that she didn't have to go into much detail. Trying to change the subject, she motioned to the door. « I'm surprised to see that you brought so many Autobots with you… »
« Huh ? Oh, yeah… About that.. » Ricci trailed off before shrugging. « They said it was for security or something like that. It's not like I could really argue with them about that, now could I ? » A smirk then crossed Ricci's features and she crossed her arms loosely. « But I'm guessing you were pretty secure last night, huh ? »
Making a small noise of agreement, Laurelin continued to hurry in packing up her things. This was a conversation she most definitely did not want to be having. Not to mention thinking about Optimus as he was away just made the separation from him that much more difficult.
Ricci, however, wasn't ready to let the initial subject drop. She sidled over to Laurelin and gave her a playful nudge with her elbow. At the questioning glance Laurelin gave her, Ricci motioned to the bed with a quick nod of her head.
« So…? Just how fine were things ? » Ricci then paused, frowned and raised an eyebrow. « How did that even work, anyways ? »
Now Laurelin could definitely feel the flustered blush rising to her cheeks. She missed Optimus dearly, yes but Ricci was certainly doing a good job of mitigating the pain of his absence. At the very least, she was providing an oddly good distraction.
« It... It just did... » Laurelin muttered, side-eyeing her friend.
Ricci didn't seem convinced, however. She hummed in thought, tapping at her chin and frowning at the floor. She then gave Laurelin a look of momentary alarm.
« Do we need to get you to a doctor ? Do you need a tetanus shot or anything ? »
For a couple of seconds, Laurelin could only sputter in baffled embarrassment at her friend. Then, managing to regain her composure : The young woman quickly shook her head. Still blushing, she brushed a lock of stray hair from her face. « No ! Of course I don't ! » Clearing her throat and trying to calm the rosy blush on her cheeks, Laurelin shrugged off-handedly. « He was… um… He is… able to take on a human form and... Well… That's... That's all. »
Blinking at Laurelin, Ricci considered what her friend was telling her. Her smirk then returned as she appeared satisfied with the explanation. She then quirked an eyebrow again, leaning towards Laurelin. « So… Has the leader of the alien robot species learned that particular human practice well ? »
Whatever blush may have faded from Laurelin's face quickly returned and she ducked her head, trying to hide her embarrassment.
Ricci just laughed at her friend.
Noticing that Laurelin had finished packing her things, Riccin motioned to the door.
They both knew that, despite their light-hearted conversation : They needed to hurry. The Autobots outside – along with their military escort – weren't going to be as patient as Ricci was being.
« Come on, Laurelin... If you've got everything, let's get going. »
Despite not wanting to have to face Elita, Laurelin nodded in agreement nonetheless. But as she neared the door with Ricci, her reluctance to go outside was noticeable. Enough to make Ricci pause and give her friend a concerned look.
« Everything okay ? »
« I… » After trailing off for a moment and looking at the doorknob thoughtfully, Laurelin sighed heavily. « I'm not exactly looking forward to meeting Elita after… Well, you know. After all that's happened. »
« Elita ? » Ricci repeated, obviously confused. She tilted her head to the side, gaze flicking over to the door. « What about her ? Does she have the hots for Optimus or something ? »
« Um… She used to… » Laurelin slowly replied. She sighed and glanced back to the bedroom, feeling awkward with the conversation once again. « From what Optimus told me, Elita and him used to be a couple. »
« Oh… »
« And then, when Optimus had to start chasing the All Spark and came to Earth, well... Their relationship ended. »
« Ohhh… »
« So, yeah… » Laurelin sighed again. « I think things are going to be more than a little awkward now. I know Elita is eventually going to find out. I'd just rather it be sooner than later. »
« Yeah… Can't blame you there. » Humming in thought for a brief moment, Ricci then gave her friend a reassuring smile. « Well, you don't have to worry about me saying anything. I won't tell Elita why you and Optimus were gone for the whole day and night. I promise. » Realizing something else, Ricci perked up a little. « I'll even take Elita as my ride back to the helicopter so that you don't have to deal with her, okay ? You can take one of the two other motorbikes. »
Feeling a little relieved by Ricci's offer, Laurelin nodded appreciatively : « Thanks. I think I'll do that. It'll at least help keep things calm for a little while longer. »
With that, the two stepped out into the warm sunshine.
Immediately, the three Autobot motorbikes revved to life.
True to her word, Ricci quickly skipped over and hopped onto Elita, ensuring that Laurelin had her choice of the other two.
Keeping her gaze averted from Elita, Laurelin climbed atop Arcee without a word.
Though the femme Autobot gave a question nudge with her handlebars underneath Laurelin's grip, the young woman simply gave a short shake of her head.
Not wanting to press the subject, Arcee revved her engine once again before pulling forward.
With that, the small group drove away from the motel.
The drive itself was silent save for the semi-deafening noises of traffic, for which Laurelin was grateful for. Despite her best attempts, she still found herself occasionally glancing over at Elita from the corner of her eye. Of course, she couldn't discern any sort of expression or what the femme Autobot was thinking, but Laurelin still couldn't help but worry for when the two inevitably spoke especially in Optimus's absence.
After about thirty minutes, a military helicopter slowly came into view. The military had indeed picked a relatively out of the way place to wait. It made sense, of course. They didn't want or need unnecessary attention from the passing public.
The Autobot motorbikes slowed their approach, giving the soldiers at the helicopter time to recognize them and motion for them to come forward.
Once at the helicopter, Laurelin made haste in hopping off Arcee and taking a seat in the helicopter. She tried to pick a spot that was rather tucked in and out of the way. Laurelin could only hope Elita would either take the hint or simply wouldn't be able to get close enough to have a conversation.
However, that hope was almost immediately dashed when Elita stepped into the belly of the helicopter. Now in her robot form, the femme Autobot scanned the inside of the helicopter. As soon as her optics flicked over to Laurelin, Elita walked over and sat down across from the young woman.
« We need to have a talk. » Elita stated firmly and loud enough to be heard over the helicopter starting up.
Though it felt like her stomach was filled with ice water, Laurelin nodded meekly in response.
The conversation was briefly paused though, as the helicopter turned over and began to slowly ascend into the air. The respite was short-lived, however. As soon as the helicopter had reached a steady forward speed, Elita's sharp gaze was back on Laurelin.
Despite the femme having only somewhat human features, Laurelin could tell that Elita was not happy. There was a particular glint in her optics and her armor was slightly flared in upset. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, Laurelin averted her gaze not wanting to look up at the female Autobot. She wanted to move to another part of the helicopter, but couldn't do so without it being overly obvious that she was getting away from Elita. Not to mention she would have to maneuver her way through the already crowded helicopter…So, with a heavy sigh : Laurelin reluctantly glanced up at Elita and murmured : « You wanted to talk ? »
« Indeed. » For a long moment, Elita was silent. Her piercing gaze studied Laurelin closely, feeling a notable amount of resentment building up in her core. This was the being that had replaced her as being closest to Optimus ? This fragile, tiny alien creature ? Snorting derisively : Elita spoke again, keeping her voice low. « I know the reason why you and Optimus were absent together. It was for purely personal and intimate reasons, was it not ? »
Though she stiffened and her voice caught in her throat at first Laurelin finally managed to find her voice : « That is none of your business. »
The response sent a flash of indignation through Elita and the femme leaned back for a moment. Even if she had known why Optimus and Laurelin had been absent, having it confirmed only seemed to worsen things. There had been the slight hope that perhaps she could have been wrong, but it had been dashed as soon as Laurelin had spoken. Of course, Elita had never intended to restart her relationship with Optimus. The dynamics between both of them had changed so much that such a thing was simply no longer possible. But that didn't remove the sting of being so quickly replaced. Not to mention the relationship between Optimus and Laurelin had evolved far faster than Elita – or anyone – could have anticipated. Then, of course : There was the glaringly obvious detail that Laurelin was of an alien species that was far weaker, smaller and short-lived when compared to Cybertronians. «You do realize that such a relationship is a foolish endeavor, do you not ? » Elita asked icily, still keeping her voice low. She didn't want anybody else to hear the conversation she was having with the young human female. « You do realize that Optimus has far more important matters to tend to than some silly personal relationship ? Or did that not even cross your human mind ? »
Wincing slightly at the emphasis Elita put on the word human, Laurelin shrunk back in her seat. She hadn't expected Elita to be thrilled about the relationship she now had with Optimus but she hadn't expected her to be so resentful either. Her anger seemed to go deeper than just concern for the fighting between the Autobots and Decepticons. No, Elita's anger seemed… personal.
« My relationship is none of your business. » Laurelin repeated, her voice quiet but firm. She then gave Elita a pointed, almost accusing look. « I will only say that a relationship involved two people... not just one. »
The sharp answer obviously surprised Elita, and her armor flared briefly.
Not willing to continue this discussion anymore and feeling more and more uncomfortable with the femme Autobot, Laurelin did her best to scoot away from her. It wasn't much, given that the seats in the helicopter were small. However, mercifully : A voice over the helicopter's speaker system announced they were about to touch down at Diego Garcia military base.
Frowning up at the speaker, Elita grumbled something under her breath before looking out to the ground they were slowly descending to. Still feeling rather resentful and unsatisfied with the conversation she had just had, Elita carefully made her way to an unoccupied space of the helicopter.
Laurelin watched her go, breathing out only the smallest sighs of relief.
From across the belly of the helicopter, Ricci gave Laurelin a reassuring smile.
Despite the smile and the fact that Elita had moved away, Laurelin still felt very ill at ease. As soon as the helicopter had landed : She hopped out, not wanting to risk another conversation with Elita. Making a beeline for her apartment, Laurelin kept a brisk pace, not even slowing down when she heard Ricci following alongside her. It was only when her friend spoke up that Laurelin slowed down.
« Oh, did you hear ? »
« Hear what ? »
« Lennox and his men left a little while ago to join a military base near Philadelphia. »
« What ? Why did they do that ? » Laurelin asked, slowing her pace a little.
« So that they could follow the Autobots. They left for Phildelphia a little bit before Lennox and his men did. »
Ricci's statement stopped Laurelin mid-step and sent a cold chill through her. Ricci didn't seem to notice and Laurelin had to skip a couple of steps to catch up. Even so, she still felt definitely uneasy. She knew that Decepticons were involved, and that they were most likely the reason why Optimus and the Autobots had had to leave. The fact that Lennox and his men had gone to follow meant that the situation was dire enough to warrant reinforcements.
